Power-actuated spider and slips



June 1944- H. -v. STEADMAN POWER ACTUAT ED SPIDER AND SLIPS 2 Sheets-Sheet I Filed May 10, 194 3 Was Fig.2

. lnvcnforz Her-ac; V. Srzadman June 20,1944. H. v. STEADMAN 2,351,887

POWER ACTUATED SPIDER AND SLIPS Filed May 10, 1943 2 Shgets-Sheet 2 3 1-- 4 Ha lOa I Fig. 3

Invznfor". Horace V. S'tzadman, I

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Patented June so, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT Q FlC E rowsanc'rna'rsn srmna AND suns Horace V. Steadman, Wichita Falls, Ten, minor to vShell Development Company, San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Application May 1o, leis, Serial No. 486,459

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to apparatus for drilling wells by the rotary method, and pertains more specifically to a power-operated spider and slips arrangement for supporting tubular strings in a well while connecting and disconnecting said strings.

'In drilling wells by the rotary method, drill pipe is used as a means or transmitting power to rotate the drill bit. Drill pipe is manufactured in joints or lengths varying from 25 to 40 feet. As the well is drilled deeper, joints or stands of drill pipe are progressively added to those already in the hole, and the drilling is continued. Frequently, the drilling bit becomes worn to a point where it must be replaced, in which event the whole drill string must be withdrawn and then loweredagain into the well with the new bit attached thereto. Withdrawing and installing drill strings necessitates several operations, one of which is supporting the drill pipe left in the hole while further joints or stands are'removed or added. This is usually efiected by means of slips used in conjunction with a spider, which may be the rotary table itself 'or some other confining or supporting means for said slips. The slips engage and wedge the drill pipe in such a manner as to prevent its slippage down the well. In this method of supporting the drill pipe, the slips or wedges are manually removed from the bowl of the spider during pulling or lowering operations, and are manually inserted into the bowl for the above purpose a split spider and slips structure adapted to be positively locked about a tubular string with the slips in gripping engagement with said string.

Itis also an object of this invention to provide synchronized control means for actuating said splitspider andjor releasing it from a locked position by the application thereto of power from a single source of supply.

These and other objects of this invention will be understood from the following description taken with reference to the attached drawings.

wherein:

again when it is desired to hold the drill pipe.

This manual removal and'replacement of the slips is a relatively 'difiicult and fatiguing operation which necessitates the employment of additional manpower on the riaand also increases drlllinghazards becauseof the unavoidable lack of coordination between members of the crew operating the hoisting mechanismand those actually handling the slips. p r

It is, therefore-an object .of this invention to provide a mechanism foriengagin g and disen gaging the-slips from? the: drill pipe,- by the em-' ployment of-power, the application of which is at all times under the control of the driller or hoistoperator. v j 7 r It isalso. an object .of. thisinvention to provide a structure for supporting a tubular string depending into a well, such as a drill. string, tubingstring or casing string, by-means of slips amxed to. a completelysplit-spider, and adapted to be :reciprocatedinto andout of engagement Fig. 1 is a .plan View, partly in cross-section, of the present split spider and slips structure;

Fig. 2 is an elevation view of the structure of Fig. l'with the control valves removedg.

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are diagrammatic views of different arrangements of the elements oi Fig. l: and

Fig. 6 is a plan view, out along the center line, of another embodiment of the structure of Fig. 1. I

Figs. 1 and 2 show the mechanism of the present invention, which in general is arranged sym metrically or co-axially about the surface pipe it and the drill pipe I, and may be positioned either below or above the rotary table, notshown in' the drawings. I

A set of rails or horizontal beams'll, which may be supported either directly on the surface pipe is, or, as seenfrom Fig. 2, on special supports it, provide a base or frame on which slip holders 3 and d, which are the two members forming in combination the split spider of the present invention, are adapted to slide in'a horizontal plane, bumper blocks Ila being used for cushioning effect when openingthe' spider, as

will be describedhereinbelow.

The slip holderst. and '4 have attached thereto the slips 2, adapted to grip the .pipe 1 'when the slip holders are drawn tog'ethe'r. Instead of the. two slip holders and four slips shown in the drawings, any 1 desired number thereof 'can on-'- viously belused. -The sli=ps are attached to the slip holders by'an'y desired-means,-fsuch,' for example, as pin and spring arrangements; which give them a certain degree orneedom "in 'bothQ thevertical and the'horizontal direction, and

permit a grip in engagement with the tubing'or drill pipe-l.

a horizontal plane.

. Itis also m attimestam s meat st One of the "slip holders se u ne with sates 6,"- .pivoted onpihionjs 28,-and1nor'ma1ly r as ned as shown inthe drawingsby-m'eans cisprings '22.

2 acorns? single motion of the operating handle 33 as to The other slip holder is eq ipped with notches I.

adlptedtorecciveandtoholdthe'lltchu l.

The slip holder 3 is provided with cylinders or wells 1, of which only one is' shown in crosssection in Fig. 1, in which plungers or pistons 3 are held in a receded position by means or springs I, said plungers being adapted to extrude into the notches 3 by the application of fluid pressure, thereby disengaging the latches 3, as will be explained hereinbelow.

Means for reciprocating the slip holders 3 and 4 with regard to each other comprise cylinders II which are rigidly connected with one of the slip holders by means such, for example, as a bar l3, and piston rods l2 and pistons ll, fitting within .said cylinders and rigidly connected to the other slip holder, whereby the slip holders together with the slips carried thereby may be actuated to slide toward or away from each other along the rails ll by the admission of steam, compressed air or mother suitable pressure gas or liquid to the proper side of the pistons il in the cylinders ll.

In order to insure a satisfactory alignment and engagement of the slip holders 3 and 4 with each other, there are provided a plurality of guide rods l4, which are fixedly attached to one of the slip holders, for example, slip holder 3 and are adapted to fit slidingly within a passage provided in the other slip holder to receive them, as shown in dotted lines at Na in Fig.1.

A control system for actuating the above mechanism comprises the multi-port valves 40 and 33 and the necessary pipe conduits for admitting the operating pressure fluid to the cylinders I 3 and I, respectively. The valves 33 and 40 may be compounded or synchronized by linking means diagrammatically shown by the dotted line 33 in such a manner as to be operable as a single control.

The valve for actuating the cylinders l3 comprises a body 30, a core 33, and a handle, not shown in the drawings, whereby it may be switched to a desired operating position. The body has four openings: a power inlet 3| in communication, through pipe 29, with a source of high pressure fluid, such as steam, compressed gas or air, ,oil or any other liquid under pressure; two power outlets 33 and 3B in communication, through pipes 38a, 38b and 34a, 36b, respectively, with the cylinders ill on either side of the pistons ii, and an exhaust outlet 31. The valve core 33 consists of a rotatable block fitting accurately within the valve body to form an eflective seal against the operating pressures. The-core has formed therein passages 34 and 35. as shown in the drawings. H

The valve for actuating the cylinders 1 comprises a body 40 and a core 43. The body 43 has three openings: a power inlet 4|, a power outlet 48, in communication, through pipes 43a and 43b with the latch-releasing cylinders I, and

an exhaust outlet 41. The core 42 has a power passage and anexhaust passage 44, which are shaped somewhat differently from those of the core 32 because of the difference in the number and arrangement of the valveinlets and outlets, as shown in Fig. 1.

The positions of the openings in the valve bodies 30 and 40, and the shape of the passages in their cores are selected so as to adapt the cores of said valves to be rigidly attached to each other by means such as a link 33 for purposes of operation by a single handle. In-this manner, the valves 30 and 40 may be actuated together by a synchronism or time sequence by the application thereto of a desired pressure fluid.

In operation, assuming that it is desired to\-e move the drill pipe i from the well, this may be eifected in well-knownmanner by conventional hoisting means with the present mechanism in the position shown in Fig. 1.

When the desired length or stand of pipe has been hoisted, the valve" is switched, by counterclockwise rotation, to a position wherethe passage 35 is in register between the power inlet 3| and power outlet 34, leading to the right-hand side of the pistons II. The left-hand side of the pistons I i being still open to atmosphere through pipes 33, passage 34 and exhaust outlet 31, the cylinders ill and pistons ll move with regard to each other to contract the slip holders 3 and 4 together. In the valve 40, the core 43 rotates together with the core 32, but the power inlet 4| is still shut off and the cylinders 1 are still open to exhaust 41 through passage 44, so that said plungers 3 remain inoperative in their recessed position during this phase of the operations.

When the slip holders 3 and 4 have slid to the extremity of their inward stroke on rails l1, thereby causing the slips 2 to grip pipe I, the latches engage with the notches 5, thereby firmly connecting the slip holders 3 and 4 against outward movement.

Upon engagement of the latches 3 with the notches I, the hoisting mechanism is released, the weight of the pipe string being now supported solely. by the slips 3.

The length or stand of pipe that had previously been raised from the well by the hoisting mechanism is now unscrewed and separated from the pipe string remaining in the well, and the hoisting mechanism is engaged with the next uppermost stand of pipe. A pull is taken on the hoisting mechanism in the usual manner, and the compounded valve cores 42 and 33 are set, by

clockwise rotation, so that, in proper sequence,

springs 3, and disengaging the notches I and latches 3 from each other. Simultaneously, the

a pressure fluid is exhausted from the right-hand side of the pistons H through pipes 33a, 33b and 31. Pressure 'fiuid is then admitted to the lefthand side of the pistons ll, causing the slip holders 3 and 4 to slide away from each other to their extreme position in contact with cushion blocks lla (Fig. 2). The valves may then be set to a neutral position, shown in Fig. 1, preliminary to repeating the cycle of operations described above.

It is understood that the particular arrangement of parts necessary to actuate the present spider and slips mechanism, such as cylinders ll, valves 43 and 33, etc., has been described and illustrated above only by way of example, and that any other arrangement or structural modiflcation thereof capable of achieving the objects of this invention may equally well be used. Some of these modifications are illustrated in Figs. 3. 4 and 5, wherein diagrammatically shown elements similar to those of Figs. 1 and 2, but differing therefrom in arrangement, are indicated by the same numerals, while elements in all points identical to those of Figs. 1 and 2 are.

being placed'in parallel, and are fixedly attached to the derrick or other suitable anchoring point, as shown at 50, whereby only the pistons I la, attached to the slip holders by pins i, form the moving elements of the mechanism.

The arrangement of Fig. 4 likewise comprises stationary cylinders lDb adapted to actuate the slip holders to and from each other by means of the pistons lib and a toggle linkage comprising pivots 52, 53 and 54. V

The arrangement of Fig. 5 permits the employment of a single cylinder lflc connected to the slip holder 4 by means of a rigid tong arm 55, while the piston I I0 is connected to the other slip holder 3 by a tong arm 56. Both tong arms are pivoted around a common pin 51, slidably mounted in a fixed slot 58. It will be seen that in the embodiment of Fig. 5, as in that of Figs. 1 and 2, both the cylinder and the piston move with regard to each other, while in the embodiments of Figs. 3 and 4, only the piston moves with regard to the cylinder.

Although the present system has been described above as actuated by the application of a pressure fluid involving the use of cylinders l0 and pistons II, it is obvious that the reciprocation of the slip holders may be effected by means involving the use of any other prime-movers, for example, by manual operation, steam turbines, internal combustion engines or electric motors, as illustrated in Fig. 6.

In the embodiment of Fig. 6, which shows only half of the present spider and slips system, the

members l3 have attached thereto, instead of the cylinder l0 and piston l I, nut members 6|, adapted to engage a rotating screw 62, actuated by an electric motor 63. The screw 62 is provided with right-hand threads on one side 01' the motor 63, and with left-hand threads on the other side thereof, whereby the rotation of the motor 63 in one direction causes the slip holders 3 and 4 to move toward each other, while its rotation in the other direction causes them to move away from each other. The motor 63 receives electric power from any suitable supply line by means of connection 64, and its direction of rotation may be mechanism indicated at 65. The latch-disengaging pistons 8 of Fig. 1 may in thi cas be replaced by electromagnetic relay coils operated from the same source of supply through connections shown at 66 and 66a, and automatically energized by the operation of the control 65 upon stopping or reversing the motor 63, in a manner well understood by electrical engineers.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a structure adapted to support from the reversed by means of the controlsurface a tubular string depending into a well, a

split spider comprising two members adapted to reciprocate with regard to each other in a horizontal plane, slips carried by said members, latching means carried by said members, said slips being adapted to engage and support said tubular string and said latching means being adapted to lock said members with each other upon the completion of a stroke. bringing said members together, release means for disengaging said latching means, and prime mover means for reciprocating said members.

2. In a structure adapted to support from the surface a tubular string depending into a Well, a split spider comprising two members adapted to reciprocate with regard to each other in a horizontal plane, slips carried by said members, latching means carried by said members, said slips being adapted to engage and support said tubular string and said latching means being adapted to lock said members with each other upon the completion of a stroke bringing said members together, release means for disengaging said latching means, prime mover means for reciprocating-said members, and synchronized control means for supplying power from a single source to said release means and said prime mov- I support said tubular string and said latching means being adapted to lock said members with each other upon the completion of a stroke bringing said members together, release means for disengaging said latchin means, prime mover means for reciprocating said members, and synchronized control mean for supplying power from a single source to said release means and said prime mover means.

4. In a structure adapted to support from the surface a tubular string depending into a well, a split spider comprising two members adapted to reciprocate with regard to each other in a horizontal plane, slips carried by said members. latching means carried by said members, said slips being adapted to engage and support said tubular string and said latching means being adapted to lock said members with each other upon the completion of a stroke bringing said members together, plunger means for releasing said latching means, prime mover means comprising cylinder means attached to one of said members and piston means attached to the other member for reciprocating said members with regard to each other, and control valve'mean for actuating said release and said prime mover means by admitting thereto a pressure fluid.

HORACE V. S'IEADMAN. 

